Apparatus for the manufacture of confectionery



Oct.:24, 1933. o. KREMMLING I APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFAEITURE OF CONFECTIQNERY Filed Sept.- 12. 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 In venfor. 0H0 'Kremml/nq A TT'a R N E Y Oct. 24, 1933. o. KREMMLING APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF CONFECTIONERY Filed Spt. 12, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 lnvenfon Offo Kremling A I 1'0 R N E Y Patented Oct. 24, 1933 PATENT OFFICE APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF CONFECTIONERY Otto Kremmling, Hamersleben, Germany, as-

signor to Aribert Kremmling, Ham'ersleben,

Germany Application September 12, 1930, Serial No. 481,556, and in Germany September 17, 1929 5 Claim.

This invention relates to an apparatus for the manufacture of confectionery, and its object is to enable the process to be carried out automatically while maintaining the best working conditions.

In accordance with the invention the novel process consists in intermittently feeding the starting material from a container into a pressing chamber, extruding it through suitable openings and giving it the required shape before it is cut off to form the final article, all the operations being performed automatically.

A machine for making confectionery has previously been proposed in which the material was pressed out by a compression assembly from a container and through dies on to a tray, the size and shape of the articles produced being dependent on the time during which the pressure was maintained. When the desired shape and size were reached the articles were cut off and the tray removed. All the operations of this machine were to be carried out by hand which made it impossible to perform all the movements in the fashion appropriate to the consistency of the various materials.

It must, in fact, be borne in mind that the consistency of the material must be maintained at a definite degree by temperature changes; if not, all the individual working operations must be continuously altered because for example, materials such as fondant and others easily liquefy or again easily solidify under change of temperature.

Further, in these known machines, the material container is only refilled when it becomes empty so that the working operations are always changing and have therefore to be carried out in a difi'erent fashion. These alterations are necessary because of the fact that when the container has just been refilled with material, the latter is in form of a heavy liquid mass and therefore flows out of the opening because of its weight more easily than when the container is only part full. The cycle of operations must there- The desired result is therefore not obtained by the use of these known machines chiefly because it is not possible to treat the materials between the precise temperatures required for good results. Great difliculties are therefore encoun- 60 tered in carrying out the various working -operations because the complete working cycle cannot be carried out under uniform conditions.

Each cycle consisted in uniformly feeding the material from the container into a pressing chamber, pressing it by means of an upper press cover through a crank or lever movement and at the same time lifting the platform carrying the articles towards the outlets of the press also by means of a separate crank or lever motion, allowing the first crank to return 'so as to produce a definite vacuum so as to prevent further pressing out of the material, simultaneously lowering the platform, directly actuating the particular lever or like device for cutting off the articles and 76 subsequently uniformly piling up the articles after they had been cut.

Such a cycle of operations cannot be carried out satisfactorily every timethe material is pressed out because errors due to manual operation can- 80 not be avoided. In consequence of this and because the temperature cannot change uniformly throughout the material in the container as is required, it is therefore never possible to produce large uniform articles from one sheet and to set them on the platform.

The foregoing disadvantages of the known machines are overcome by the process in. accordance with the invention. The material, in the machine in which the process according to the invention is carried out, is pressed out in a single row or at the most in a few rows and the container is replenished after each successive press? ing out so that the material is continuously in motion so that the consistency of the material does not sensibly alter and thereby produce ar ticles of unequal size.

The material in the container, the feed rollers or like devices, the walls of the container and the pressing chamber and other parts can always be heated to the required temperature to avoid changes in the consistency of the material. By the particular construction of the machine it is also possible to raise and lower the platform at the precise moment required and to press out the material at the correct time, to operate the cutting Off device at the correct time and to set articles on the platform. The crank used in the known machine for cutting off the articles and which through the agency of a connecting rod,

(ill

other end to the frame 1 so that th reciprocated the cutting means continuously and rectilinearly is avoided so that the cutting means is o in motion for a short time during the lowe of the pressing out device. It is thus possible to press out and spread for a very long time and to lift and lower the platform very often because the cutting movement requires less time the total working cycle.

In order that the invention may haproperly understood and more easily carried lntojefiect, an example of the machine in accordance therebe described with reference to the drawings, in which I e longdtudinal section of the machine.

Figure 2 shows to a larger scale the arrangement oi the cutting mechanism :ior cutting cit the Y articles.

3 shows to a larger scale a press openwith the platform shown beneath it in its lifted position.

4i shows the detail shown in Figure 3 in the position in which the platform has been lowered and cutting tool set in Al. platform or table 3 pivotally supported ono shaft 2 in frame 1 or the machin e.

A conveycr band or the like which is driven by means oi a ratche we i and connecting rod 5, pin d and d shaft 2? surrounds this platform 3. The shaft oi platform is connected by cranks e to an oscillating lever 27, one end oi which is oscillated by cam lit which is mounted on sheila "Zwo levers are pivotslly fined on the pin ii in the frame 1 and are provided their upper ends with a heated cutter is. The lower end 0; lever 12? is provided with a roller 12:! resting on a cam 14 so that the cutter is is reciprocated in the direction oi motion of platform 3 benmth the openings from. the press. A spring 15 is at one end oi the lev 12 and at the e roller 12a is always kept in contact with cam .is seen to a larger scale in Figure 2 the upper end of the lever 12 is forked and a roller 1? is mounted in the slot 16 and is connected to the cutter 15. A material container 18 is provided above the platform 3 from which the material is fed by means of the rollers 19, 2c and 21 into the press chamber 22. Below the press chamber 22 a mould 23 is provided having openings or nozzles 24. through which the material is pressed out. The container 18 is jacketed so that a heating liquid can be introduced through the openings 26. Qpenings 27 and 28 are also arranged round the press chamber 22 and the mould 23 to allow them to be heated independently. In order to bring the rollers 19, 20 and 21 to the desired temperature they are mounted on a hollow shaft.

The large feed roller 19 is intermittently driven by a ratchet wheel 29 and a connecting rod 30 fixed to the cam 10.

l oneach complete cycle of the machine the operations are as follows:-

The platform 3 is lowered to a given level and .beneath the mould 23, and the material is then pressed by means of rollers 19, 2o and2i through the nozzle 2d of the mould 231:.until the cross section of the material pressed-out is increased by contact with the platform 3. In this wayitis given the required shape. The material pressed out ough the nozzles 2415 then cut off by the cutter 13 which is reciprocated below the nozzles, 24 by the cam 14. The articles thus out OK fall on to the feeding arrangement of the p otionn 3 menses and to out the articles up further because the cam ill on the shaft '2! is inactive. One or more rows oi nozzles 24 can be arranged under the pressing chamber 22 according to requirements.

A pressing out nozzle 24 is shown to a larger scale in Figures 8 and 4 as is also a part of the platform 3 and its feeding mechanism. These figures clearly show the co-operation of the variour parts in the process of broadening the material pressed out from the chamber 22.

The cutting mechanism is shown as being actueted by the cam 14 but other means can be used such as for instance as an intermittently rotated cut-team.

In order to obtain any particular shape the platform 3 can. be raised and lowered-a number of times at varying speeds whilst the material is being pressed out of the nozzles 24, and for this purpose the cam 10 which controls the movements of the platform 3 can be made with an undulated surface.

In order to glaze the outer surface of the articles part of pressing chamber 22 may be warmed. Similarly the cutter mechanism can be heated preferably by electrical means. Again, a removable nozzle plate 32 may. be provided below the pressing chamber and be also provided with means for heating it.

The container 18 and the pressing chamber 22 of the machine may be subdivided by means of partition walls arranged parallel to the feeding arrangement of the articles and at right angles to the platform, and preferably also pro: vided with heating devices. In this way it is possible for the machine to operate eiiiciently with various materials. The partition walls extend right up to the nozzles so that the materials are kept apart until they are pressed out.

Before they are subjected to any further treatment the articles are passed through a cooling apparatus which may be in the form of a bath in order to bring them to the required temperature.

in addition to the machine shown in the drawings any pressing machine can be used for carrying out the process according to this invention, in which the amount of material pressed out is always replaced by a like amount of material in the pressing chamber so that the whole process can be carried out without interruption and be indefinitely repeated.

I claim:

1. In a dough and confectionery machine, a frame, a hopper mounted on said frame, an expressing chamber mounted beneath said hopper, said expressing chamber having at least one nozzle in the bottom thereof, means for expressing material from said expressing chamber through said nozzle, a support positioned beneath said expressing chamber and pivoted at oneend to to said frame, means for raising and lowering said support, said support in raised position cooperating with said. nozzle to broaden the material expressed, said means including means for varying the length of said lifting movement, said raising and lowering means comprising a drive shaft mounted; in the frame and having a cam secured thereto, an arm pivoted to the frame and provided with cam engaging means, and a link pivotally connecting said arm to said pivot and support, means for varying the point at which said arm is pivoted to said frame, means actuated by said cam for actuating said expressing means whereby the latter is synchronized to the raising and lowering of said support, a second cam secured to the drive shaft, a knife mounted to reciprocate horizontally beneath said nozzle and in close proximity thereto at predetermined periods to sever the material expressed, means actuated by said second cam for actuating said knife, and means for independently heating the chamber, the nozzle, and the knife.

2. In a dough expressing machine, a container for the dough, an expressing chamber below said container, vertical dough expressing nozzles in the bottom of said expressing chamber, means for expressing dough from said container into said expressing chamber and through said nozzles in such a manner that as an amount of dough is expressed from the expressing chamber through the nozzles it is replaced by a like amount of dough pressed from the container into the pressing chamber, a dough receiving table below said nozzles, means for intermittently operating said dough expressing means to express dough from the nozzles, means for raising and lowering said table, means for controlling the relative movement between said table and said nozzles to shape the vertical profile of the dough pieces while they are being expressed, a reciprocating cutter arranged at the extreme lower ends of said nozzles, and means for actuating said cutter after the extruded dough has been shaped and as the table is lowered.

3. In a dough expressing machine, 'a hopper, an expressing chamber below said hopper, vertical dough expressing nozzles in the bottom of said expressing chamber, feed rollers for pressing dough from said hopper into said expressing chamber and through said nozzles, a dough 'receiving table below said nozzles, means for intermittently operating said. feed rollers to express dough from the nozzles, means for raising and lowering said table, means for controlling the relative movement between said table and said nozzles to shape the vertical profile of the dough pieces while they are being expressed, a reciproeating cutter arranged at the lower extreme ends of said nozzles, and means for actuating said cutter after the extruded dough has been shaped and as the table is lowered.

4. In a dough expressing machine, a container for the dough, an expressing chamber below said container, vertical dough expressing nomles in the bottom of said expressing chamber, means for expressing dough from said container into said expressing chamber and through said nozzles in such a manner that as an amount of dough is expressed from the expressing chamber through the nozzles it is replaced by a like amount of dough pressed from the container into the pressing chamber, a dough receiving table below said nozzles, means for intermittently operating said dough expressing means to express dough from the nozzles, said table and said nozzles being arranged for relative movement between and away from each other, means for controlling the relative movement between said table and said nozzles to shape the vertical profile of the dough pieces while they are being expressed, a cutter arranged at the extreme lower ends of said nozzles, and means for actuating said cutter after the extruded dough has been shaped and as the nozzle and the table are separated.

5. In a dough expressing machine, a container for the dough,- an expressing chamber below said container, vertical dough expressing nozzles in the bottom of said expressing chamber, means for expressing dough from said container into said expressing chamber and through said nozzles in such a manner that as an amount of dough is expressed from the expressing chamber through the nozzles it is replaced by a like amount of dough pressed from the container into the pressing chamber, a dough receiving table below said nozzles, means for intermittently operating said dough expressing means to express dough from the nozzles, means for raising and lowering said table a plurality of times while the dough pieces are being extruded so as to produce an intermittent reciprocating relative movement between said table and said nozzles to shape the vertical profile of the dough pieces while they are being expressed, a reciprocating cutter arranged at the extreme lower ends of said nozzles, and means for actuating said cutter after the extruded dough has been shaped and asthe table is lowered. 

